A Cinderella Story
by AnimalCraziey
Summary: "To the world it probably seems like the other way around...but Annie, YOU'RE the one keeping ME sane." Annie and Finnick initially have a rocky relationship but something more lies behind their playful banter...
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

In the Hunger Games the tributes from District Four would be grouped together with Districts One and Two as Careers. Little did the rest of the districts know that in our own district my family were regarded as little more than scum.

It was totally irrational, at least to my brothers and I. It was painful as a five year old to have no one in school want to sit next to you. When my brothers had to be picked for teams they were always last despite the fact that their athletic ability was outstanding.

It became too much for my elder brother when he was denied entry into a restaurant. He came home while the rest of us were eating, slamming the front door behind him so hard that the house shook.

"Why are we ostracised from society? I've stayed silent for 20 years now I think I am within my rights to ask for an explanation!" I have never before seen my father so silently angry or my mother so deathly pale.

"You would not want to know son," his voice held a tone of warning.

"I don't think I have wanted to know anything more than this Father," Dakon replied, an aura of eerie confidence about him.

"Very well then. Your brother and sister are too young for this." Gren and I knew better than to argue with him and we left the dining room, our plates unfinished and cutlery in disarray.

Dakon was never quite the same after that. About an hour later we heard the door slam again and the gentle splash of the paddles as he rode away. He was to return the next morning, smelling of stale alcohol and with large bags under his eyes.

They say the truth sets you free. But it only imprisoned Dakon.

_Annie is now just about to turn 16 years old_

Figures showed that District Four had one of the highest population densities in Panem, bar the Capitol. You wouldn't have realised that where we lived.

10 minutes would pass after leaving the town before you reached the little jetty. There, regardless of the time of the day, or the day of the week, a little wooden sailboat would be tied. After school my siblings and I would launch this boat, taking in turns to propel it to our house on the island.

If it weren't for school and basic essentials i.e. toothbrushes I'm pretty sure that we could have been self-sufficient. We grew our own livestock and vegetables, even cotton (which my mother was quite adept at turning into clothing). Then, of course, we fished. And swam. A lot.

But one thing we couldn't easily obtain was grain. And it seemed that no one in our near vicinity could obtain it either.

"We'll just have to sign up for tesserae," my mother sighed, papers of all our food stores strewn across the tables. "It's not something I want to do but..."

"It's worth it," mumbled Gren, with ever more expensive bread in his mouth. "I mean we get at least 50 extra tickets with me and Annie combined if we ask for as much tesserae as possible." Those 50 extra tickets would make a very noticeable difference to our mealtime plates and we all knew it.

"Just do it," I said, with a great deal more confidence than I felt. "After all, there's a very little chance of either of us being picked."

I guess fate has never really been on my side.


	2. Reaping Day

**Hello again friends **** Hope you enjoy – and feel very free to leave a review (even if it is just an emoticon)**

**Special shoutout to MermaidOdair who is an absolute sweetie because she reviewed my fic, many thanks love **

Any outsider would've thought it was a joyous festival; children running on the streets with thick sticks of cotton candy in their hands, everyone in their most beautiful dresses, laughter filling the air. Then again, Reaping Day was generally a very celebrated day in District Four.

I was wearing my best clothing too, a white dress exquisitely embroidered by my mother with vivid coloured threads from the Capitol. My cousin Vivera threaded her arm through mine while we walked, she batting her eyelashes at every young man we passed on the street. Vivera was one of the few girls who talked to me and treated me like a friend. Mostly because people avoided her like the plague too. I'd heard rumours abound though that once she got a couple of drinks down her, people would take her 'under their wing' for the night. Cousin or not, we were both secretly desperate for the company of others, and I didn't judge her for it at all. Vivi was your textbook-beauty, or at least the kind of woman Gren and I found on Dakon's old magazine covers. She was blonde and buxom next to my stick-like frame, my one redeeming grace being the thick auburn hair that tumbled past my shoulders to my chest.

Suddenly a thought came to my mind and I pulled Vivi down an alleyway.

"Viv, do you know why people hate us?" she frowned and looked around before glaring at me.

"Do you have to ask that HERE? Now?!" she hissed. I shrugged. This was as good a time as ever.

"You know that your father and I are brothers? Well...they had a sister." Vivi's face falls. "She was just 12 when she was reaped. In the photos she only looks about 10, due to her physical and mental...difficulties." I never knew I had an aunt.

"What happened to her?" I asked.

"She was reaped alongside her brother. I don't think that had ever happened in District Four before then, a brother-sister combination. Well...she never made it past Training. Shot through the head with a makeshift bullet. It was passed off as an accident and her brother returned home with the body." Viv had turned a pale shade of green but she continued. "They said he was the culprit, but no one knows for sure. What _is _certain, though, is that that year District Four had no contestants in the Hunger Games." This is shocking. To be reaped and entered into the Games is a source of pride in our district, but that year is undoubtedly one of the most shaming years. No wonder everyone hates our family. Wait...her brother was the culprit...?

"Which one...which brother...?" I am surprised that I actually made a sound, I was so in shock. Her expression is grim.

"Your father, Annie. It was your dad."

My father wouldn't hurt an eel unnecessarily, let alone kill his own sister! So that's why Dakon hardly ever comes over anymore. He doesn't want to eat food at the table of a murderer. Except my father is not a murderer. This information doesn't change the fact that he's still one of the kindest people I know. He gave his sister a humane and painless death, not one suffering at the hands of some sadistic Career tribute. And if that means everyone hates us, so be it.

"How can you smile?!" Vivi shrieked. "Your father _ruined _our lives Annie. We didn't have a childhood like the other girls, sleeping over at our friend's houses, giving each other makeovers." It's true. We didn't have a typical childhood. Though she may not want to admit it to the people she keeps company with while inebriated, Vivi is one of the best trackers I know and a very decent fisher and shot. We have skills and very useful ones too.

"Annie Cresta? Make your way to the main Square please." An armed Peacekeeper appeared at the end of the alleyway, briefly casting us in shadows. "Vivera Cresta, join the crowd." The butt of the gun glints in the sunshine and we both make our way out into the square. Vivi squeezes my hand reassuringly and kisses me on the cheek.

"See you soon Annie love," Vivera said softly. "I'll buy you a cupcake from Renwood's later, alright?"

_She still owes me that cupcake. _


	3. I am the Chosen One?

**This is legit the longest fanfic chapter that I have ever written! Probs because I've rarely been so excited about a fanfic before. You guys should all be proud of me ;) Hope you enjoy! Lots of love, AC x**

**P.S. I don't own any characters except my OC's: Vivera, Dakon, Gren & Carlen Traymor. Suzanne Collins, however, is a literary goddess and all other characters are borrowed from her amazing works – The Hunger Games :D**

I made my way through the crowd of youngsters, all of whom were chatting with their friends, excited at the prospect of coming back to District Four and living like a Champion. After all, most of the people here were 'proper' Careers. They took advantage of the extra-curricular activities offered at schools across the District. Oh no, there was no time for art class when you could learn how to camouflage yourself in a desert…and archery was for wimps when you had Crossbow Club! Meanwhile I had joined my father in his trade. As a result I could wield a fishing spear, net and swim a great deal faster than my peers in District Four. And that was no mean feat, I tell you!

"I'm surprised you're wearing something vaguely akin to clothing _Cresta," _sneered Liliane, her fine violet tulle dress swishing around her ankles. "Though your mother couldn't afford to dye it, hmm?" Her cronies laughed alongside her before moving away, leaving me wallowing in my humiliation. I'd wanted the dress to be white but they didn't need to know that. _They didn't, _I told myself, scrunching the fabric up in my fisted hands while I willed myself to stay calm.

"Ignore them Annie!" My younger brother Gren took my arm in his and led to off to a more sparsely populated area in the town square. Gren, though only 15, seemed older than his years. It had begun once Dakon had stopped coming to our house for a cup of coffee in the evenings…then he didn't come to Sunday lunch anymore…and we received a letter that he'd moved to the Capitol and was living well there. Dad had thrown the letter away and it was an unsaid rule that we were to never mention our older brother again. Strange then, wasn't it, that I could now hear his voice calling my name?

"Eyannia! Over here!" I cringed inside. I hated my full name. So naturally my older brother always abused me with it. Even when I was young I couldn't, and later wouldn't, say it properly. It was a Cresta family tradition to name all the children in alphabetical order. Dakon was the oldest, then myself and finally Gren. Missing a letter, right? For some strange reason my mother didn't want a child whose name began with F. My father, being the very unorthodox person he is, agreed without any resistance. Though I didn't escape being gifted with the name _Eyannia. _Annie, though simple, suited me just fine.

"What the _fuck _are you doing here?" I hissed angrily at my brother, ignoring the pleas of Gren to leave him alone. "You have no right showing your face to me, _o 'brother' of mine.' _Dakon grimaced.

"I felt you finally needed to know the truth about everything." I grinned bitterly, despairing at how it had come to this.

"I know. About the Hunger Games and how they never made it past Training. She died there so that she wouldn't die a painful and humiliating death in the Games; shamefully broadcast onto all of our screens. I'm sorry you don't understand that." All the hurt building up inside me is exploding in this painful, but necessary, outburst. "Frankly, I'm not surprised you don't. Anyone who abandons their family wouldn't know a loving action if it hit him in the FACE." Dakon doesn't expect this and the shock on his face confirms the fact that I've stolen the only thing that he could lord over me. I am not the sister he left behind. No more meek and mild Annie Cresta.

"Quieten down pips!" the booming voice of Carlen Traymor fills the Square, immediately quieting the Square. "Are you ready for the District Four Reaping for the 70th Hunger Games?" A hearty cheer erupts around me, children and adults alike clap their hands and scream.

"Now, shall we start with the fairer sex?" a subservient attendant approaches Traymor with a sparkling coin on a cushion. Yes, there are so many entries from the District that they have to be split between two containers. A coin toss determines the container from which the candidates will be chosen. Everyone waits with bated breath as the small round piece of metal twirls high up into the air, glinting in the sunshine. It falls silently onto the plump cushion.

"Tails," he cries, moving towards the box on the left. Traymor dramatically rolls up the sleeve of his rich emerald green coat and delicately rummages around in the container and takes out a piece of paper. At least, I presume it to be so as I'm so far away from the Main Stage that I can barely see anything.

"Ee-yan-ee-ah? Is that how you say it? Cresta? Cresta! That I can say." The people closest to me swivel on their feet and stare at me, causing a Mexican wave/ripple of people to turn their eyes towards...

Wait. What? Me?

"Go _up there _you idiot," snarls Liliane. "This must be a record for making a fool of yourself so quickly." Someone pushes me but I only realise it was Gren once I reach the steps.

"Tallen Zander, make your way up to the stage."I recognise the boy from visits to the main market in District Four, he often helps out his family in their grocery shop. He can't be older than 14. Then again, Finnick Odair was only 14 when he won the Hunger Games. So scared that he's in shock, Tallen's eyes dart nervously and he trips over the hem of his trousers as he ascends the stairs. We are ushered to either side of Traymor who takes our hands in his and raises it above our heads.

"Citizens of District Four, give a large round of applause for your entrants – Eyannia Cresta and Tallen Zander!"

_20 minutes later_

I am nervous under the gaze of 5 very enthusiastic attendants, eager to pander to my every need. I gulp anxiously, waiting for my last audiences with my family and friends.

"Some water, Miss Cresta? Or maybe a cake?" A well-groomed young man, obviously Capitol trained, holds out a crystal glass to me.

"No, thank you," I wave him away. _"I should be in Renwood's now, enjoying my escape from the grasp of the Hunger Games," I think. "But I am here now. And I may never be in District Four again."_

"Oh _Annie," _shrieks a voice, and it's Vivera and she's hugging me so tightly that I can barely breathe. "I can't believe this. I thought...I thought you would be _safe!_." I laugh bleakly.

"I'm as safe as can be. Why look, I have people waiting on my every need. " Vivera glances at the line of uniformed attendants and her face sours.

"It's like they're fattening you up before your slaughter." She realises her mistake almost immediately and claps her hand over her mouth, tears beginning to pool in her eyes."

"It's alright Vivi," I hug her again. "Listen, you're going to be okay. Everything is okay. I know you've always felt the Cresta guilt more than I have ...but please don't feel that you have to compromise anything...do you understand?"" It's the first time I've ever approached this territory but why not; this could be the last time I ever see her. "And anyway, once I'm Victor I'll be able to get you whatever you need, even if that's a move to a District where no one knows who you are."

"We don't deserve you Annie, you know that don't you?" It's Dakon, and upon hearing his voice I steel myself for another verbal assault. He reaches out to hug me but stops short, seeming to sense my animosity. "I'm sorry," he says. "I didn't think it through. My actions show that I really don't deserve to be in this family." This time he doesn't stop, and Dakon enfolds me in the first hug he's given me in years. I can't resist it anymore and I hug him back, but not a lot. He needs to earn my trust and respect again.

"But I'm going to redeem myself. That's why I'm taking Gren back with me to the Capitol. He'll never even have the possibility of being reaped ever again. I hope that makes up for how dickheaded I've been." He nervously chuckles, inviting me to say something, laugh, do _anything _in response.

"Most people with penises act better than you did," a determined giggle escapes me. "But it's a good start. Thank you." He moves aside, leaving space for my younger brother. We stare at each other for a while before Gren and I fall into each other's arms, his body racking with sobs that have not yet come to me.

"Try and get some of your new friends' families to sponsor me when I'm in there alright?" I squeeze him tightly. "And don't worry Gren. There's always a District Four who's in there till nearly the end." He suddenly leans back, eyes blotchy but bright.

"Finnick will help you! You can't lose with him there for you!" My brother adored Odair, and would probably idolise him to the end of the world. I really didn't have the heart to tell Gren that as Mentor, Finnick hadn't helped _anyone _win the Games. Yes...I don't think even I had the heart to hear it myself. Anyway, I'd have the female Mentor, so it wasn't as if it would be that much of a problem.

"All the best, daughter," my dad says gruffly. This he says after civilly acknowledging Dakon's presence with a curt nod, but I see a lot of love in his eyes. This may be the only opportunity.

" I understand, Dad," I say quietly, holding his hands close to my chest in a traditional District Four sign of close affection. "Your sister is so happy now...and I know she'll be supporting me." He chokes up and pats me on the back.

"Show Panem what a Cresta is like!" He moves aside to reveal my mother.

My mother is a strong one. She would not hear of not being married to the younger Cresta boy and didn't care that she'd have to abandon her position in middle class society to be a fisher wife. She was also prone to visions, and did psychic readings on the sly . She never asked us to take the things she saw for granted, but they were usually right.

"You'll come back to me and I'll have my F," she smiles before hugging me gently.

"What?" I mumble. I am so confused.

"Exactly that. You'll be back and I'll have my F. Now Annie, remember this. Someone who is for you will _always _be with you."

"That's it now, move along," the Peacekeepers open the door wide open and one by one all of my family members leave. They close the doors on my warm, smiling mother and suddenly I can't take it anymore because...because...

Now I am all alone.


End file.
